Goodbye from Heal Project Nutrition

Dear Friends and Supporters of Heal Project Nutrition,

Since September 2010, we have worked together to provide the 35 HIV+ children living with Jeannie Mulenga at the Transit Home in Lusaka, Zambia, with a piece of fresh fruit, plus a glass of milk or an egg, every day. What’s more, during that time we have funded the building of a chicken run and initiation of a small chicken business, and provided fruit to another 350 children at Jeannie’s community school.

This has all been possible through your generosity and kindness – and imagination! From regular standing orders to one-off donations… from cake sales and a home clothes day masterminded by librarian Morag at King’s College School in Cambridge, to a quiz & raffle run by the Air Squadron at Cambridge University… from hitchhiking to Lyon, to the brilliant support of the South Town girls and Penny Cook and their amazing non-stop skipping at Clifton College in Bristol… from our initial Bristol coffee morning, to boogeying on the dancefloors of Oxford! Together we have raised over £10,000 for Heal Project Nutrition, which has contributed to keeping 35 children healthy and happy, and developing the tools and know-how to continue to do so.

Heal Project Nutrition, now, is coming to a natural close. With your support we have raised a phenomenal sum. By providing that initial access to a varied and balanced diet, and with the real improvements seen in the children’s health, Jeannie has demonstrated the unquestionable value of good nutrition for medication to work as effectively as possible. The Transit Home have developed their own garden and irrigation system and are now self-sufficient for vegetables. Jeannie will continue to strive towards this variety and good nutrition for all under her care. Brilliantly, Tom and Connie are moving to Lusaka in August, to teach and research public health. With that comes an excellent opportunity to continue to work with Jeannie to provide good nutrition for the children, and to re-assess the needs at the Transit Home now, three and a half years on. We will continue to work with and support Heal Project – the wider fund of which Heal Project Nutrition is just one part. The attached newsletter gives an insight into the brilliant work Heal Project is doing at the Transit Home and beyond – particularly at Jeannie’s community school, sewing classes and woodwork classes.

I cannot explain better than Floyd himself why we support these wonderful children. This brilliant short film (only 4 minutes) was made by Dutch photographer Damien Schumann, who Joyce mentions in her newsletter. For a true sense of what life at the Transit Home is like, to meet Jeannie Mulenga who is mother to these 35 resilient children, to see the Transit Home vegetable garden, to spot a T-shirt delivered on one of our trips, to spot one of your books on the bookshelf, to meet Floyd who is one of the children your generous support has gone to, and to see him juggling the oranges you have sent to him every month for the last 43 months, watch this video.

Life at the Transit Home is inspiring. As Jeannie says in this video “They [the children] have different dreams… And it is my prayer that they all become what they dream of”. We will continue to work, and would be honoured if you would continue to support us, to help those dreams come true.

Thank you again for your support of Heal Project Nutrition over that last three and a half years. If you would like to continue to support Heal Project directly, please do get in touch do get in touch via the Contact button or the Donate button on the website.